TW Mitchell

TW Mitchell (1869-1944) was a medical psychologist and psychotherapist with an interest in cases of multiple personality (dissociative identity disorder).

Career

Thomas Walker Mitchell studied medicine at Edinburgh University, then worked in private practice as a psychoanalyst.  He was a member of the British Psychoanalytical Society, also of the Psycho-Medical Society whose journal, the British Journal of Medical Psychology, he edited. He was interested in hypnosis,1 which he was among the first to use in a therapeutic context.2

Psychical Research

Mitchell joined the Society for Psychical Research in 1906, later serving on its governing council and as president in 1921. He was particularly interested in the questions raised by cases of multiple personality (now dissociative identity disorder), researching a case that emerged in his own medical practice.3 He wrote about different types of cases,4 focusing in particular on Doris Fisher.5

Selected Works

Books

The Psychology of Medicine (1921). London: Methuen & Co. Ltd.

Medical Psychology and Psychical Research (1922). London: Methuen & Co. Ltd.

Problems in Psychopathology (1927). London: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co.

The Phenomena of Mediumistic Trance (1928). London: Constable and Company Ltd.

Articles and Reviews

The appreciation of time by somnambules (1907). Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 21, 2-59.

Review of Religion and Medicine: The Moral Control of Nervous Disorders, by E. Worcester, S. McComb, & I. Coriat (1909). Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 14, 100-104.

Supplement: Some recent developments in psychotherapy (1910). Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 24, 665-86.

A study in hysteria and double personality (1910). Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 14, 263-65.

Review of Mesmerism and Christian Science: A Short History of Mental Healing, by F. Podmore (1910). Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 24, 687-97.

The hypnoidal state of Sidis (1911). Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 25, 338-52.

Some types of multiple personality (1912). Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 26, 258-85.

A study in hysteria and multiple personality, with report of a case (1912). Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 26, 286-311.

Review of Collected Papers on Analytical Psychology, by CG Jung (1916). Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 29, 191-95.

Psychology of the unconscious and psychoanalysis (1918). Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 30, 134-73.

The Doris Fisher case of multiple personality (1920). Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 31, 30-74.

Review of Papers on Psycho-Analysis, by E. Jones (1920). Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 31, 94-102.

Review of Psychology and Psychotherapy, by W. Brown. In Collected Papers on the Psychology of Phantasy, by C. Long.

Review of The New Psychology and its Relation to Life, by A. Tansley (1922). Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 32, 379-84.

Presidential Address (1923). Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 33, 1-22.

Review of Science and Personality, by W. Brown (1930). Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 26, 35-37.

Obituary: Morton Prince (1930). Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 26, 42-43.

The contributions of psychical research to psychotherapeutics (1939). Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 45, 175-86.

Literature

Mitchell, T.W. (1907). The appreciation of time by somnambules, Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 21, 2-59.

Mitchell, T.W. (1912a). A study in hysteria and multiple personality, with report of a case. Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 26, 286-311.

Mitchell, T.W. (1912b). Some types of multiple personality. Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 26, 258-85.

Mitchell, T.W. (1920). The Doris Fisher case of multiple personality. Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 31, 30-74.

Wright, M.B. (1945). Obituary: Thomas Walker Mitchell. British Journal of Medical Psychology 20/3, 14.

Endnotes

Footnotes

- 1. See, for instance Mitchell (1907), 2-59.

- 2. Wright (1945), 14.

- 3. Mitchell (1912a).

- 4. Mitchell (1912b).

- 5. Mitchell (1920).

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